DARK SECRETS: Our senators already know everything they need to know to polish the laws on campaign contributions, money-laundering, foreign bank accounts and extra-marital affairs. All they have to do is look at themselves and their seatmates.

There is no need for three Senate committees, whose membership is virtually the entire chamber, to waste precious time and taxpayers’ money feasting on the unproven money-laundering charges of Sen. Panfilo Lacson against First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo.

What the senators can do, if indeed they want information in aid of legislation, is introspect, be honest to themselves, and proceed to write amendments to the law based on their own dark secrets.

(We presume, of course, that all 24 of them, including the showbiz types and those merely riding on household names, are capable of real legislation — which was the job they sought when they ran for senator.)

Tama na po yang endless investigation. Nothing worthwhile will come out of it anyway.

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U CN TXT US: If you want to send us comments but have no immediate access to a computer with Internet connection, you can use your mobile phone. Just type POSTSCRIPT, followed by your message, and send the text to 2960 if texting locally. Pls add your name.

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PORN FOR KIDS: More and more parents are complaining about very graphic pornography popping up on their computer screens even without being accessed.

They expressed alarm at the effects on their children who are exposed to the hard porn while using home computers for schoolwork and researching (browsing) through the Internet.

Complaining readers said that they use Microsoft Windows (1998, 2000, XP versions) and dial-up (phone line) connection to their Internet Service Providers (ISP). They said the pornography pops up usually when they are using Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.

The pornographic materials include pictures showing kinky sex and gadgets, sex film clips, dirty phone chats, and hot links to other porn websites. Even adults admit they are shocked by the hard porn streaming in unannounced.

Parents are advised to monitor what their children see on their PC screens. Computers have become essential learning tools and they cannot just be restricted to adult use only.

Will the authorities please do something fast about this other kind of virus spreading among home computers linked to the Internet?

Microsoft, whose Windows operating system and Internet Explorer appear to be the main vehicles of this high-tech pornographic invasion, should also act as a responsible member of the community.

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RESIDENCE RULE: It is dawning on returning Filipinos that they may be unable to vote in the May 2004 election even if they reacquire this month their lost Philippine citizenship under Rep. Act No. 9225, also known as the Citizenship Retention and Reacquisition Act of 2003.

Chairman Benjamin S. Abalos of the Commission on Election explained that “overseas Filipinos who regained their citizenship will have to wait for one-year residency in the Philippines in compliance with the Philippine Constitution before they can vote in the Philippines or as overseas absentee voters.”

Abalos said that “overseas Filipinos abandoned their Filipino citizenship when they pledged allegiance” to another country. “This means that they also abandoned their domicile and, therefore, they have to be residents of the Philippines for one year before they can vote in the Philippines,” he said.

He has to clarify if his opinion also covers Filipino immigrants (or green card-holders in the US) who have been led to believe that they can vote in 2004 once they sign an affidavit wherein they promise to permanently reside in the Philippines within three years of their signing.

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FILIPINOS FOREVER: The Dual Citizenship law (RA 9225) should be amended to simply say that a natural-born Filipino (a citizen at birth) shall be deemed to have retained his citizenship despite his obtaining another citizenship under the laws of another country.

Under this formulation, there will be no gap in the Filipino’s being a citizen since he never lost his native citizenship when he was naturalized as a citizen of another country.

If the repatriating Filipino is made to apply first, take an oath of allegiance and go through such rigmarole, he may end up being a second-class citizen.

By “second-class,” we mean that he may have lost his prior status and rights as a natural-born citizen, because he still had to perform some acts required to perfect his reacquired citizenship.

Example of a handicap: He may not be able to run for president since that post is reserved for natural-born citizens (or those whose have been citizens since birth and need not do anything to perfect their citizenship).

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EASIER U.S. POLICY: It is interesting to note that an American does not automatically lose his citizenship when he is naturalized in another country. For instance, FilAms who take a Philippine oath of allegiance as returning citizens remain Americans.

To lose his citizenship, an American must explicitly declare that he is voluntarily renouncing it and must go through a formal renunciation procedure before a consular officer outside the US (normally in the country where he has been naturalized).

Why should we make it difficult for the returning Filipino and tie him up in bureaucratic red tape? Why should a returning natural-born Filipino suddenly find himself no longer considered natural-born and deprived of certain rights.

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ECONOMIC COLLAPSE: Imagine if majority of the estimated 7.5 million Filipinos abroad sign the required affidavit (to return and reside permanently in the Philippines) for absentee voters — and keep their promise!

They would give up their employment abroad, lose their source of income, and stop sending foreign currency to the Philippines. If majority of overseas Pinoys return home as promised, that would mean a drop of about $3 billion in remittances in one year! The economy would collapse!

That affidavit requirement of the absentee voting law is crazy, if you ask us. The Supreme Court should have struck it down when it had the chance recently.

It is the single biggest reason why most Filipinos abroad did not register for the May 2004 election. How do we know? They say so themselves.

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MAILED VOTES CURTAILED: Some disgruntled overseas Pinoys are now saying that the administration purposely made it difficult for them to vote because, according to them, enlightened voters abroad were not expected to vote for the administration candidate (President Arroyo?) anyway.

Backing up their suspicion, they point out that the absentee voting law allowed votes to be cast through the mail only in three countries. While it has arguably the most reliable postal system among countries hosting Filipinos, the US was not include among the places where mailing of votes was allowed.

Again the reason given, rightly or wrongly, was that Pinoys in the States are perceived to be generally oppositionist and the administration kuno would not want them to be able to cast a negative vote.